Speaking about their new single, ‘Communion’, Evan Russell Saffer, lead singer of Makes My Blood Dance says,
“‘Communion’ represents the common difficulty we all have coping with fear and pain.” If there’s something we all know about this year, it’s having to cope with fear and pain; if there ever was a year to find a way to forge a bond with society as a whole, it’s this one.
Of course, we know what Makes My Blood Dance stand for; we’ve been writing about “disco metal” group from Brooklyn since the middle of last year. As with their previous singles, ‘Power Of The Lightside’, ‘Sick As Our Secrets’, and ‘Beaming Right Up’, Saffer and his bandmate, John Polimeni, peel back the layers of disco, glam, electropop, and metal to create the perfect song, sparing no details in their pursuit. And just like those singles, ‘Communion’ is a positive and upbeat reminder that we have the power within us to overcome any adversity even while revealing ourselves as vulnerable.
‘Communion’ is introspective – it takes a good, hard, long look at itself, and examines that feeling of wanting to run away from anything that challenges us, or that might present itself as being too difficult. The conclusion however is that there’s nowhere left to go at the end of the day; and while we still feel afraid – there’s nothing wrong with that – we are reminded that feelings are not the same as facts, and they put it to us that we need to adjust our perspective, and deal with our feelings in an objective matter, without letting them take control. Like most creatives, Makes My Blood Dance are guilty as charged when it comes to overthinking stuff; however, they propose we put that energy to better use.
As has been the case for so many bands this year, one of the challenges for ‘Communion’ was to leap over the logistic hurdles put in their way by Covid-19, when it came to make a music video. The NYC based band were of course restricted by a very harsh lockdown, but they adjusted their focus, and mustered their creative spirit to make a clip that still captured the massive energy of the song. Previously they’d used story arcs that spanned the entire video. With ‘Communion’, they instead give us something more akin to a puzzle – individual shots of the band performing, a variety of stories and images, and some live footage, accompanied by shouts of “I!” and “Why!” all remind us that this is one of the best live bands out there, and that their work comes about through a true team effort, bolstered by determination.
Watch the music video for ‘Communion’ below.
